My team slipped to 8th place in the standings thanks to getting swept by “Foxy SRS,” but we can still improve before the position week, as we’re only a point behind “The Dynasty” for 7th with the first half’s position night coming in just a few weeks. “Butz-N-Gutz” currently holds a 5 point lead on “The Generations” and “The Mustangs” at the top. “Warren’s Girls” will be our opponents next week.

If you’ll look on the LeagueSecretary.com standings sheet, you’ll note that Eileen again won the holiday bonus in her division with a +74 differential. Nice going, Eileen! 😀

My Week 15 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

This was a pretty normal night, as my nights go, but three things stood out:

1. I was finally able to get a “messenger” 10 (where {usually} the head pin comes off the side wall and takes out a standing 10 pin for a right-hander; also often called a “scout”) in the 3rd frame of the second game. That had yet to happen in my return.
2. I went back to throwing my spare ball at my left corner pins (4 and 7), and, while I missed one each of the 4 and 7, I found that I could be effective with it as long as I don’t pull the shot (which happened on both misses).
3. I left 4 single 10 pins and made them all…always a good thing.

Result: 161-202-191=554
Average (45 games): 184
Average for last 9 games: 183
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 563

My friend Bonnie asked for, and was granted by a vote of the team captains, a transfer to my team’s opponents this week, “Foxy SRS,” and the addition of Bonnie made them immediately better, as they took all 4 points from us last night. For my team, not much really stood out except for Eileen again, who posted up a 416 total (averaging 114 going in) and is likely in the running for the Christmas holiday bonus in her division, just as she was at Thanksgiving.

A sweep of the points by my team allowed us to move into a three-way tie for 6th place in points, with my team holding down the 7th spot based on pinfall. “Butz-N-Gutz” maintained a three-point lead over “The Mustangs” despite a net loss this week. My team faces “Foxy SRS” in the coming week.

My Week 14 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

It was really just a typical “night at the office” until the end of the night, but all I’ll say about how it ended was that my team got a gift point for the third game, and the less said further about it, the better for everyone involved (though none of it had anything to do w/ my own team directly).

Result: 167-181-214=562
Average (42 games): 184
Average for last 9 games: 181
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 562

Wishing to note my teammates’ accomplishments the other night, Carl started off with a solid 183, Eileen had a 156 in the middle, and John was over his average in all three games for a 446 set.

My team kept hold of 8th place in the standings despite the net loss of points this week, while “Butz N Gutz” maintained their three-point lead over “The Mustangs,” as both teams won the same number of points. My team faces “4 MTD,” currenly in 3rd place, next week.

My Week 13 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

I just had too many splits tonight, especially in the third game, when I had four of them. It would figure the bulk of the splits came in the third game because, with the guys on “Butz N Gutz” chewing up the lanes, this was one of the few times I see proper transition, and I made too little of a move inside, only arriving at the proper adjustment at the end of the night. Oh well!

Result: 213-174-149=536
Average (39 games): 184
Average for last 9 games: 185
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 569

On the bright side, my team took the second game point, and getting any points is an accomplishment for us against this set of opponents. John led the way in the second game with a 170 (37 pins over his average), while the true hook bowlers (including myself and most of “Butz N Gutz”) struggled to find anything on lane 36.

As I hung around in the pub for a bit after bowling and didn’t want to do much when I did get home, this post is late because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

My Week 12 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

I’d just rather chalk the other night up a longish day helping out my sister at her place, as I only bowled well enough to maintain my average. I felt, perhaps erroneously, that the Hy-Road was not holding pocket in the second game, so that explains the ball change to start the third game. I was leaving too many splits for my liking (not that I like to leave any, but…), and one bit me in the very last frame when I had a chance to put pressure on our opponent’s best bowler for the game point.

Result: 213-151-168=532
Average (36 games): 185
Average for last 9 games: 197
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 589

None of us had a really good night, on the balance, but we still took 3 of the 4 points on the first two games and total. I will single out Carl, however, who had a 160 second game. A check of the LeagueSecretary.com standings shows us still in 8th place, a point behind “The Generations” and “The Wild Samoans.” We essentially helped out “Butz N Gutz,” who are now in first place by 3 points over “The Mustangs.” “Butz N Gutz” will be my team’s opponents next week.

My team’s place in the standings didn’t change this week, but it did allow us to move to within a point of “The Wild Samoans” for 7th place. “Butz-N-Gutz” and “The Mustangs” (our opponents next week) are now in a tie for first (with the former having the pinfall advantage), with “4 MTD” and “Warren’s Girls” tied for 3rd only two points behind.

Individually, “Mr. Unmentionable” crushed everyone for the holiday bonus in the men’s A division, as I was second in differential, but 109 behind. Eileen did win her division’s holiday bonus, however, and also moved into the lead for high scratch game on the season in the division.

My Week 11 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

This was not really the night I was hoping to use to follow up on my 28/30 clean 640 set of last week, but any night I can strike better than half of the time, I’ll take it at this point. After the first game, I was thinking, “Holiday bonus week is in my head again,” but, turning my attention to helping the team win, I had better games and actually ended up better than 50 pins over my average on the night. It still wasn’t enough to get the holiday bonus (as I’ll explain later), but at least I know I can have a good night on an important night on the league schedule. I’m also feeling much better about my recent bowling with the back-to-back 600+ nights.

Result: 167-222-216=605
Average (33 games): 185
Average for last 9 games: 197
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 563

The bowler on my team who may be best in line for one of the holiday bonuses is Eileen, who had both a personal best game (171) and personal best series (405) tonight. The team ended up taking 3 of 4 (losing only second game thanks to my 10 pin whiff in the last frame), so that made me happy, as well. I know I’m out of the running because one of my buddies, who now does not want me to acknowledge him by name online, had a 277 game en route to a personal best 753. I’ll let my readers figure out who I’m talking about when the standings sheets get posted.

With Wednesday night’s net win against “VAKINC,” we moved into a tie in points with that team for 8th place, with my team ahead in total pinfall. “The Mustangs” moved into sole possession of first place, two points ahead of “Butz N Guts” and three ahead of both “4 MTD” and “Warren’s Girls.”

Individually, Eric Nordstrom, in the first game, was likely just a single pin shy of a perfect game, as he posted a 279 (I don’t know which pin he left and which frame he left it in). My team can make hay on the middle of the pack next week, as we face “The Wild Samoans,” the 5th place team, which we are only three points behind. Next week is also the first of two “holiday bonus” weeks, where the bowler with the most pins over average in each of the six average classes will win a cash bonus.

My Week 10 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

As I said in my BowlSK comment about tonight, this was as consistent a set as I’ve ever had in a league setting. While I didn’t have quite the run of clean frames I did in open play on my birthday last year (28), I had just as many clean frames tonight as I did that night (still 28 out of 30) and was clean all the way through after the 6th frame of the first game, with the opens in the first game both coming on splits. All in all, as I’ve titled this post, a night to remember. 😀

Result: 184-232-224=640
Average (30 games): 184
Average for last 9 games: 199
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 577

My team definitely needed me tonight, as Steve and Bobby Geddes returned to the league tonight and were added to the opposing team, so I knew I had to come up big against Bobby. After losing a close first game, it was a team effort to get the other three points (including total), as everyone had at least one game over average.

After being swept by “The Generations,” my team is now all the way down to 9th place, just 4 points out of the league cellar. As I alluded to in yesterday’s post, the race at the top got tighter, as there is now a three-way tie between “4-MTD,” “Butz N Gutz,” and “The Mustangs” (with the teams listed in pinfall order). The second cycle starts with my team facing “Vakinc” next week.

My Week 9 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

I figure if it wasn’t for the three splits in the second game, I might’ve had a decent night. I didn’t necessarily avoid them in the first game, either, but I did convert on a 6-7 (the real highlight of the night for me). A move to a different pair, necessitated by a problem with the ball return (more on that later), also didn’t help (and it seems the pair I was bowling on has been hit with technical glitches more often than the rest of the league this year). The thing I’m really not proud of about last night was the two single-pin misses in the third game, which would’ve made it an over-average night.

What happened with the ball return was that, somehow, a pin found its way into the ball return track, and eventually jammed balls at the point of the return proper. It cost my buddy Eric the ball he uses most of the time; fortunately, Eric had a spare ball (spare in the sense that it was an extra one) and could continue without really having it affect his game. I’m hoping management springs for a new ball for Eric, as I hate to see what happened to Eric happen to anyone.

Result: 183-168-180=531
Average (27 games): 181
Average for last 9 games: 178
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 572

I felt I bowled worse than I did because the rest of the team wasn’t really doing well, either, and we were swept by “The Generations.” Shawn told us that all of the top four teams in the league were involved in a match with another team in the group, and that the first-half race became even tighter as a result.

Wednesday night’s net win over “The Dynasty” helped us into a tie with “Vakinc” for 7th place in the league standings. The league continues to be very competitive at the top, with “The Mustangs” now holding a two-point lead over “4-MTD,” with “Butz N Gutz” and “Wild Samoans” only a point behind them in a tie for third. My team concludes the first rotation through the league by facing “The Generation” next week.

Individually, I earned my first weekly honor of the season, having the high handicap series for the men with a 674. 😀

Wednesday night’s net loss didn’t change our place in the standings, as we remain in 6th place, now only 4 points behind a four-way tie for the top (with “Butz-N-Gutz” having the pinfall advantage). Next week is, in effect, a position week for us, as we face “Warren’s Girls,” the fifth place team.

Individually, it took until near the end of the season for someone in the league to shoot a 700 series last season, but Shawn Coles had the first one of this season in the league the other night…congrats, buddy! 😀

My Week 5 bowling, frame-by-frame (BowlSK)

I’m just a little annoyed about my performance last night: I had “hambones” (four in a row; my first of the season) in each of the first two games, yet neither game broke 200. I could sort of understand the first game because of two splits late, but a first-ball gutter ball in the 9th frame of game two, in which I let my swing get well out of plane, was very inexcusable. I also missed a single pin in each of those games (a 10 in the first game, a 9 in the second), and missed another single pin (the 2) to start the third game. I also slid by the 4 on a 4-7 to end the night after getting a double and a turkey in the game.

Result: 182-180-178=540
Average (15 games): 182
Average for last 9 games: 183
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 559

For the team, it was another strong 3-1 night after getting swept last week. We won the first game on solid games by the middle of our lineup (including a 164 from Patrick) and the third game thanks to a 160 from Carl and a 150 from Eileen (the latter of which earned her the USBC 150 game award). The night brought us up a place in the standings to 6th, 5 points behind “4 MTD,” our opponents last night. “Foxy SRS,” the current doormats of the league, await us next week.